Royal Purple

Issue date: 11/19/08 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: Jon Good Senior Kat Shanahan plays "Lonely Frogs of Wisconsin" on her laptop. Shanahan was one of the students who created the game with their professor.

With the rise of interest in video and computer games, one UW-Whitewater professor and her students have created a computer game that was chosen to participate in the Serious Game and Showcase Challenge Nov. 26-29 in Orlando, Fla.

The challenge is sponsored by the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference, and people can submit military, academia and industry games to the challenge.

Three semesters ago, Assistant Professor of Multimedia Digital Arts & Communication Elena Bertozzi and her students were approached by a former university biology professor to create a game that would help high school and college students learn about the different types of frogs native to Wisconsin.

The first two attempts at creating the game were effective from an educational standpoint, but not very fun. This past semester, with the help of an undergraduate research grant, Bertozzi and her students started over from scratch to create the game "Lonely Frogs of Wisconsin."

The goal of the game is to teach students about the different frogs found in Wisconsin. The format of the game is similar to "The Dating Game," where players are required to match male and female frogs. Players are assigned a female frog who then needs to be matched with her male counterpart by following his singing.

"[The singing] makes something not appealing, appealing," Bertozzi said.

At the start of the game, players watch a movie to learn about the different frogs, including the sounds they make and the habitats they live in. Before players can make their way through Wisconsin to match the frogs, they must choose the supplies they will need on their "trip," based on the habitat they think the frogs live in, such as a forest or a lake.

The fact that the game relies heavily on audio components sets it apart from other simulation games. Senior Anna Weisling was in charge of the sound for the game. Gathering some of the frog sounds proved to be difficult for Weisling.

"Because we had a dozen or so frogs that all needed their own call, it would have been impossible for me to go out and search the swamps for each of them," Weisling said. "I was able to do all of the ambient sound myself, the pond, the forest, the prairie, by doing field recordings."

Helping to create the game concept, develop the scripts for the different frog animations, creating the paper prototype and conducting usability tests was senior Kat Shanahan. She feels the game will be useful to high school students because of its interactive components.

"They are not simply staring at a computer screen trying to absorb information, they are going through different environments looking for frogs and they need to apply what they know in order to be successful in the game," Shanahan said.

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